Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-01-03

what destiny are you tending, and how
last are you getting on towards it9
AGAIN remark that there are many
VINO estimate their life on earth by their
sorrows aud their msiortunes. Through
great many OF your lives the plough
suare hath gone very deep, turning up a
terrible furrOw. You have been BETRAYED
ana mls1epresented, and set upon, and
stamped OF impertlnence, and pounded of
misfortune. The brightest life must
nave It's shadows, and the smoothest path
It's thorns. On the happiest brood the
haWk pounceS. No escape from trouble
OF some kInd. While glorious John Mil
ton was losing bis eyesight, be heard that
Salmasius was glad OF it. While Sheri-
dams comedy was being enacted in
Drury Lane Theatre, Cumberland, his
enemy, sat growing at 1t IN the stage
oox. While Bishop Cooper was sur
rounded by the favor Of learned men bis
vile took his lexicon manuscript,
the result OF long life OF
anxiety and toll, and threw it
INTO the fire. Misfortune, trial, vexation,
Tor almost everyone. Pope, applauded Of
all the world, has a stoop in the shoulder
that annoys MIN so much that he has a
tunnel dug, so that he way 90 unobseryed
from garden to grotto, and from grotto to
garden. Can0, the famous Spanish ar
tist, is disgusted with the crucihX that
the priest holds before HIM, because 1t ia
such poor specimen OF sculpture. And
so, sometimes through taste, and some
times through learned menace, and some
times through physical dstresses, aye.
In ten thousand ways. troubles come TO
barrass and annoy. And yet 1t Is unfair
to measure mans life by his mlsfor-
tunes, because where there is one stalk
Of nightshade there are fifty margolds
and harehells; where there ls one cloud
thunder-charged,t tn Re are hundreds that
stray across the H. aYeus, the glory of land
and sky asleep in tneir bosom. Because
death came aud took your child away, d d
you immediately forget all the five
years, or the ten years, or the fifteen
wears In which sne came every night for
kiss, all the tones of your heart pealing
forth at the sound Of her voice OF the soft
touch OF her hand? Because in some
financial EuroclydOn your fortune went
into the breakers. did you forget all those
years in which tue luXures and extrava-
gances OF life shOwered ON your pathway?
hlasl that is an unwIse man, an ungraGe-
ful man, an unfair man, an unphilosOphic
man, and, most OF all, an unchristian
man, VINO mea sures his lie on earth by
groans, and tears, and dyspeptic fit, and
abuse, and scorn, and terror, and neural
gic thrust.
Again, l remark that there are many
people who estimate their iile Gu earth by
the amount of money they have accumu-
lated They saw: 1.-The year 1866. or 1876,
or 1886 was wasted" Why? Made no
money. Now, it is all cant and insin-
cerity to talk against money as though 1t
had no value. 1t is refinement and educa-
ton and ten thousand blessed surround
ings. IL is the spreading of the table that
leeds your chlldren's hunger. II is the
lighting OF the furnace that keeps
you warm. 1t is the max
ing of the bed on which you rest from
care and anxiety. 1t Is he carrying out
at last OF you TO decent sepulture, aud The
putting up OF the slab on which is chisel-
ed the story of your Christian hope. 1t is
sim ply hypocrisy, this TRADE in pulpi
and lecture hall, against money, as
though it mad no uses. 1t is hands and
feet and sails, and ten thousand grand
and glorious enterprises. But while all
this is so, he who uses money,
or thinks of money as anything
but a means to an end, Will tiud
out his mistake, when the glttering treas
ures slip out OF his nerveless grasp.
and be goes out of this world without a
shilling OF money or certificate of stock.
He milht better have been the Christian
porter that opened his gate, or the be-
grimmed workman, who last night heaved
the coal into his cellar. Bonds, and mort
cages, and leases have their use, but they
make poor yardstick With which to
measure life. They that boast themselves
in their wealth. and trust on the multi
tude of their riches, none OF them can. by
any means. redeem his brother, nor give
to God a ransom for him. that he should
not see corruption. Use men die, lko-
wise. the fool and the british person perish
and leave their wealth to Others.O
But | remark: There are many
wish there were mOre-who estimate their
life by their moral and spiritual devel-
Opment. 1t is not sinful egotism for
Christian man to say; 81 am purer than
used to be. | am more cOnsecrated to
Christ than used to be. have got over
great many OF the bad habis in which
used to indulge. | am great deal bet
ter man than | used to be-" There is no
sinful egOtism in that. 1t Is not base
egotism for soldier TO say: 81 know
more about military tactics than used
TO before / took a musket in nv hand,
and learned TO present arms aud wnen
was pest to the drill officer" 1t Is
not base egotsm for a sal OF to say: "l
know how better TO clew down the M zzen
tOpsail than | used to before had ever
seen a ship" And there is no sinful ego
JlSm Wueu CuIlsIlan uau. uE1I-
ing then tiles OF the Lord,
Or il y0St#Dhave 1t, vOyaglng towards
a hsy&I4yeterual rest, says: "I know
spiritual tactics and about
yQ " towards heaven than used TO-"
Ghere are those in this presence who
I've mea-ured Iances with many foe,
and unborsed 1t. There are Christian
men here. who have become swarthy by
hammering at the forge OF calamity.
They stand on an entirely different plane
OF character from that which they
once occupied. They are measuring
their life on earth by golden
gated Sabbaths, by pentecostal prayer
meetings, by communion tables, by bap-
tismal fonts, by hallelujahs IN the temple.
They have stood ON Sinai aud heard it
thunder. They have stood on Pisgah and
looked over into the Promised Land.
They have stood on Calvary and seen the
cross bleed. They can, like Paul, the
Apostle, write on their heaviest troubles
and "buJ for moment" The
darkest night their soul is irradiated. a.
was the night over Bethlehem, by he
faces of those who have come TO proclaim
g Ory and good cheer. They ara only wait
ing for The gate to open, and the CHAINS TO
fall of, ana the glory TO begin.
remark again there are many (and /
wish there were more who are estimat-
ing life by the amount Of good they can
do. john Bradford said he coun. ed that
day nothing az all in which be had not,
by pen or tongue. done some good. II
man begins right, / cannot teLL.Ragx many